Manchester Memoirs, Vol. ixii. (191 7) 



1 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



By The President, 



William Thomson, F.R.S.E., F.L.C., F.C.S. 



October 2nd, iQiy. 



I thank you for the great honour you have conferred upon 

 me by electing me as President of this important and historic 

 (Society, and I propose in my address to try to briefly recapitu- 

 late its history, and to 1 dwell on tjhe extraordinary importance of 

 the work which has been done in it : work which has created 

 two o'f the most important of the Sciences, viz.. Chemistry and 

 Engineering, and which to-day form the foundations of the work 

 i,n these Sciences jin every country in the world. The labours of 

 Dalton and Joule have rendered their names immortal and 

 have added lustre to the Literary and Philosophical Society of 

 Manchester, with which they were both so closely associated- 

 These, however, form only a part of the classical work which 

 has emanated from the (Society. 



TJie date off the foundation of the Society is given as 1781 

 (136 years ago), but according to Dr. Angus Smith" it was closely 

 associated with (those who were educated in' or connected with 

 the Warrington Academy, which was founded 24 years earlier 

 (jabiO'Ut the year 1757). The Warrington Academy was founded 

 bv a small bod,v. of religionists, and was one! of the' first teaching 

 institutions of the day. _. iWhJen the Warrington Academy was fdi's- 

 slolved, it was virtually continued in Manchester as " The Man- 

 ic heteter Academy. ■" It had many eminent men as teachers, 

 among whom may be 'mentioned Jaen Paul Marat, who was 

 believed by some to be the great French revolutionist who was 

 put to' dlealth by Charlotte Corday. Marat fepent eleven years of 

 his life in England about th(e [time of the Warrington Academy, 

 and it is believed that he taught languages there. He published 

 " Essay an Man " in London in 1773, and received his Court 

 appointment in France, 17.77. He is he^evefd to have been in 

 practice as a well-known doctor in London in 1776. 



Joseph Priestley came to the Warrington Academy in, 1761 

 as a teacher of languages and Belles Lettres, and was subse- 

 quently a member of this Society (elected 2'ist October, 1791). 

 At the Warrington Academy he was induced to take an interest 

 in Science, and soon afterwards published a paper on "A History 

 of Electricityi." At th!a|t time it seemed questionable whether 

 Warrington or Manchester would prove to be the more important 



